


Pretty Lady

by Lunarium



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: F/M, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Soulmates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-12
Updated: 2017-06-12
Packaged: 2018-11-11 13:45:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,505
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11149650
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lunarium/pseuds/Lunarium
Summary: Elusive markings haunt, intrigue, and confuse two individuals who find one another during a most unlikely moment.





	Pretty Lady

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Aeiouna](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aeiouna/gifts).



There, written plainly on her right wrist, was the name of her soulmate, her beloved, if only she could read it. The letters were in no language she understood. The Castle’s library had books on all of the languages from peoples the Alteans spoke with on diplomatic visits, but not one of them discussed a language with a writing system such as the one on her wrist. 

Allura sighed. She was a romantic sort. Cursed to be romantic, more like. She dreamed of her prince (or princess) charming one day coming to the Castle and taking her hand, and they would fall deeply in love. Just like that. And they would have a most beautiful wedding. When her mother, while brushing her hair one night, lifted up the sleeve of her nightgown to point to the marking on her wrist and told her the mark was spelled out a word, and that word was the name of who she would marry, Allura kissed the name and fell in love. She loved her soulmate ever since, if only she knew a little more about them. Such as what to call them.

*

The birthmark always weirded him out. He thought they looked like some mutated form of katakana on his wrist. Sometimes he thought he saw it glow pink, but otherwise it was just a faint red mark on his wrist, present since his birth.

Matt had his theories, shared with his younger sister. There had been numerous reports of soulmates finding one another by means of a name written on their arm. All cases reported having their soulmate’s names ever since they were born. Matt showed him the articles, all from non-reputable sources but the experiences struck some core of truth in him. The idea was charming, but Shiro could not find any language that resembled this. The next explanation, he realized, was that his lady love (or lad love) was in some other planet. Fitting for a man who would be joining the mission to Kerberos. They might find life out there after all, and he, Shiro, may just find love. 

But stories of soulmates were uncommon on Earth, and if Shiro was one of the lucky individuals, he had a strange case of an alien destiny. If he ever knew of their identity, he would have to be patient. He was willing to wait. He was in no hurry.

In time, even conspiracy theorists Matt and Katie stopped asking about his strange birthmark. 

Almost no one ever remarked on it again, no one save for a witch millions of light years away from Earth. As he lay strapped onto a cold silver table, the witch stood hunched over him, a hood over her face and a long spindly hand examining his arm before a sharp gasp escaped her lips. 

“Remove his arm—immediately!” she ordered. The druids around her sprung into action. 

Shiro gasped and struggled against his binds—what alarmed the witch?—but the anesthesia was already kicking in and everything faded to black.

*

“Thanks, pretty lady!” Lance responded to Princess Allura’s praise, and Shiro’s face broke into a smile. He wasn’t sure how to explain it, but there was something about her that made him feel alive, after everything that he had gone through.

“We did it,” he said, still in a daze.

*

She did not wake up from a true love’s kiss. She fell (but not ungracefully, she would argue) right into the arms of one of her new subjects right into her new army. Her new family. Her men (and woman) who would serve her unconditionally and fully.

And she loved them all. All thought of her soulmate, the dashing prince or princess, left her mind. They may have died on Altea, or they may be imprisoned, occupied under Galra rule. Even if they somehow evaded all that, they could not outwit time. Over ten thousand years had passed; her soulmate must have surely passed away by now. 

But it no longer mattered. She had her five Paladins, and that was enough.

*

The first time Allura wrote her name, goosebumps ran all over his arms.

They had been learning the basics of Altean. Numerous battles had already made it clear they needed to be at least familiar with the alphabet even if they couldn’t get to a level of fluency in their tight timeframe. Allura and Coran had done a well enough job taking them through the basics, but the moment Allura wrote a word on the screen, something clicked. 

He waited until everyone else was out. 

“That word…what is it?” he asked, but he had a feeling he already knew the answer. 

“My name,” Allura said. 

Instantly, Shiro’s hand shot for his right arm, touching the area that no longer existed. “Yeah…I figured.” 

Allura smiled. “You must be getting the hang of Altean, then!” 

God, if only she would stop smiling so radiantly! Shiro had tried to keep those feelings buried every since the first battle, keep the relationship professional. It worked, but seeing the name flashing on the screen above his head, his birthmark there staring right back at him, something burned and tugged in his chest. 

“Princess…if I am not overstepping any boundaries, may I ask to see your arm?” 

Her cheeks darkened into a blush and her hand quickly went over her wrist. Immediately, Shiro berated himself. 

“Forget it, I shouldn’t have asked—” 

“Why do you want to see my arm?” That wasn’t anger in her voice, so that was a good sign. Her question came soft and curious. Shiro considered his words carefully. Either she would drive him out of the conference room once he told her, or think him insane, or laugh. He wasn’t sure which would be worse. But it didn’t hurt to give an explanation. 

“I had a mark that looked just like your name on my right wrist,” he said. “I had it since I was born. Some of my friends said the mark was the name of the person I would marry. Humans on Earth don’t usually have these marks, so it was weird, and…I always wondered if it was the name of someone in space, because I didn’t recognize the language. But then I just forgot about it. And then when Haggar saw it, she had my arm cut off.

“But there’s no denying: it was your name, Princess.” 

Allura stared at him, wide-eyed. 

Great. She thought he was a lunatic. 

“Like I said, it was just a theory,” Shiro said, trying to lighten the mood. 

Allura brought her hands up. “No, no, Shiro! It’s okay! That’s an Altean soulmark! But, Shiro…that can’t be right. I’ve seen your name a hundred times, and it is _not_ my mark.” 

The words came like a kick in the stomach, and it took a while for him to just nod in reply. 

“I mean,” Allura continued, “they are no name in Altean, that’s for sure. And they’re not from any other planet my father had dealt with before. They must be from another planet, but I have yet to find a language that matches my mark.” 

Understanding dawned on Shiro. 

“Princess, if you don’t mind, may I write my name, as my mother would write it?” 

Allura stepped back to allow him to the screen. He bowed in respect and picked up the marker. 

“So this is the name you’ve seen.” 

He wrote his name down, and after a few moments, Allura nodded her head. 

“Nothing like the name on my wrist,” she confirmed. 

Shiro smiled. “Probably because you’ve seen it written in English. That is the main language spoken in the country I served before coming here. But my family speaks another language: Japanese. This is how you would write my name in kanji.” 

Taking the marker again, he rewrote his name. If this did not work, then all of this was a fluke. They could laugh it off and return to their normal affairs. It would not matter, really. Allura was a pretty lady, but Shiro respected her above all else. If they were not to be, then that was fine. A friendship was just a divine. 

Taking a deep breath, he stepped back. 

Allura studied the name on the screen. Her face held recognition, then shock. 

She tugged on her sleeve and showed Shiro, and there it was: his name written on her wrist, all in kanji. 

“Takashi Shirogane,” he said, smiling.

*

Allura had it wrong, she thought as she approached him. Fingers brushed along his jawline, their lips soon meeting for their first kiss, heart hammering in her chest.

Her soulmate had come to the Castle after all, but he was no prince charming attending a royal ball. Shiro was a pilot from another world who had brought with him an army for her to command, and instead of asking her to dance, he extended out a hand to aid her in the fight against Zarkon. 

She liked it much better this way.


End file.
